


Let's Get Physical!

by WinnieWinnie



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anxious Katsuki Yuuri, Body Image, Bullying Mention, Chubby Katsuki Yuuri, Coming Out, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, MAKKACHIN IS A PUPPY, Young Katsuki Yuuri, Young Victor Nikiforov, Yuuri is a ballet dancer, embarrassing 80s fashion, small language barrier, sort of a coming of age story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 05:46:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12647319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinnieWinnie/pseuds/WinnieWinnie
Summary: It's 1989, and Katsuki Yuuri is consumed with making his high school debut as flawless as possible. He's determined to drop his baby weight and finally put an end to his lifelong bullying once and for all. Turning to fitness VHS tapes to solve his problem, Yuuri soon becomes obsessed with a young, Russian aerobics instructor...orCheesy, heart-warming 80s AU where teens Yuuri and Viktor somehow fall in love!





	Let's Get Physical!

“Pause for a minute, let me get this straight”

 

Yuuri nibbled at his thumb’s cuticle and shifted his weight back and forth from the balls of his feet to his heels. He was currently using up the last bit of Yuuko’s kindness.

 

“Okay”

 

“Her history teacher got sick”

 

“With the flu,” Yuuri interrupted meekly. Yuuko shut her mouth before opening and closing it again. She blinked twice.

 

“Her history teacher caught the flu, and postponed their exam. Since the date was pushed back, she decided to take the extra time not to study,” she said in a way that she knew would make Yuuri embarrassed, “but instead took the movie to Hayato-san’s house so that they could watch it together.”

 

“That’s right”

 

“And so how does this end with the tape getting lost?”

 

Yuuri whined pitifully to himself. The circumstance was so complicated and tedious to explain, and he had already told the entire story in full at least twice. Yuuko just didn’t seem to believe him, not that he could necessarily blame her. 

 

“Mari spent the night, because Hayato’s brother came home with takeout and whenever she eats, she gets really tired. But when she came back home the next morning, she had totally forgotten it at his house,” he began for what was now the third time, if his memory served him properly. Yuuko rested her arms on the counter and leaned forward to scan his face for any traces of a lie, something that she had gotten particularly good at over the course of their 10-year long friendship partially because she was talented at reading others and partially because Yuuri was the textbook definition of an awful liar. His inability to meet with anyone’s line of sight and his habit of chewing on his bottom lip until it was slightly swollen whenever he fibbed was absolutely adorable to her. She noticed his fingers clumsily fidgeting together and the gawky shuffle of his feet, all of which were typical Yuuri-isms, as she had dubbed them, which was now an umbrella term that described almost anything that was awkward in nature. But he stared right at her. She knew he wasn’t lying.

 

“I made her go back the next day, but she said it wasn’t in the VHS player or anywhere on the shelf! It was totally gone!” Yuuri explained, looking totally defeated, “I’m really sorry, Yuuko!”

 

“Here,” she reached somewhere behind the counter to pull out a tissue and stuff it into his hand, “Why are you getting so upset? You look like you’re going to cry. When you cry, you’re not cute at all.” This earned her the world’s quietest laugh, a small victory.

 

“I don’t care about being cute anyway,” he continued after a bit, pushing up the thick frames of his glasses to press the now wrinkled tissue to the corner of his eyes as not to irritate them with any rubbing. “Won’t your parents kill you because of this?”

 

“I mean, probably. But we just need to find it soon! What else was it that you said earlier? About Hayato-san’s dad?”

 

Yuuri visibly shrunk into himself, something that made Yuuko giggle.

 

“Hayato mentioned that his dad could have taken it by mistake, probably thinking that it was one of his AVs or something”

 

The bark of laughter that exploded from Yuuko was something that Yuuri had never heard before.

 

“No! Yuuri, no!”

 

“Yes! And we had to ask about it and it was way too weird! And on top of that, Hayato’s mom found out about it and now I’m sucked into the middle of their marital feud! I want to die!”

 

“Stop talking, oh my God, I’m gonna pee!” 

 

The way that Yuuko slammed her palm onto the surface of the counter as she keeled over with an explosive bout of laughter almost made the situation funny to Yuuri. But he still couldn’t bring himself to laugh.

 

“I don’t even care about the tape anymore! Oh my God! I’ll take the beating from my parents!”

 

“Yuuko!”

 

“I’m sorry, Yuuri, but this is just way too funny! Am I being pranked? Oh! Ouch, my kidney...”

 

“Don’t hurt yourself!” Yuuri pleaded and reached out to her as she held onto her aching side, her shoulders still shuddering with laughter as she attempted to come down softly from her high. The tiny squeaks of uncontainable giggles that escaped her quickly melted away Yuuri’s frustration. It was pretty much impossible to get upset with Yuuko, especially not when she was like this. She met his gaze with shining eyes and red cheeks, her lips still quivering a bit. Yuuri began to cave and smiled apologetically at her.

 

“I’ll do my best to find the tape”

 

“I know,” she grinned, stretching her arm out to punch him lightly on the shoulder, “I’ve always been able to count on you, Yuuri”

 

The eighth wonder of the world was how Yuuko’s happiness managed to be dangerously infectious. Before his composure completely deteriorated, Yuuri tossed his balled-up tissue in her direction and turned to leave and browse the stacks of VHS tapes. She shrieked half with laughter and half in disgust, throwing the tissue back in his direction. It only managed to land a few feet from the counter, just barely brushing the fabric of her friend’s backpack as he retreated into the maze of tapes. “You can’t hide that smile from me forever, Katsuki Yuuri!”

 

“Watch me!” his laughing voice echoed from somewhere in the maze of tapes within the shop. Yuuko pouted cutely, though nobody was there to witness it, and began to organize inventory.

 

✩✩✩

 

Yuuri’s legs carried him to the neglected stacks of fitness tapes, the ones that were only payed any mind by him. After all, Yuuko’s parents only cared to keep tabs on the movies and documentaries in their video shop. An entire world of children’s cartoons old enough that his parents could probably reference, classroom educational videos, and decade-old fitness tapes that were forgotten by everyone but Yuuri. He skimmed through them, many of which he had already rented out within the past few weeks in a hopeful pursuit of shedding the baby weight that annoyingly clung to his belly, hips and thighs for his entire life. Though, at this point, he was sure that it was more than just baby weight he was carrying. As he sifted through the arrangement of fitness videos, his eyes came across a tape labeled with foreign characters that immediately pulled his interest. But before he could inspect it properly, he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder. The unexpected touch made him spin around so quickly that his glasses were thrown askew on his face, and he was greeted by a recognizable laugh.

 

“It’s you, Nishigori-kun!”

 

“Sorry for scaring you,” Nishigori apologized briefly before readjusting the glasses on the bridge of Yuuri’s nose. Yuuri stiffened at the closeness of the gesture, but thanked him regardless. The color that blossomed on the surface of his round cheeks make Nishigori laugh again. Yuuri silently noted that he was being laughed at a lot today.

 

“I figured that I would run into you here, how’s the weight loss going for you so far?”

 

Takeshi Nishigori was the only person on the planet that knew about Yuuri’s weight concerns, oddly enough. They weren’t particularly close, and had even disliked each other at some point in their adolescence. With Nishigori being a year older than both Yuuri and Yuuko, Yuuri’s determination to get Yuuko to reciprocate his feelings for her was wavering. Nishigori was taller, smarter, more athletic, and older than Yuuri no matter how much Yuuri insisted that they were only eight months apart in age as opposed to an entire twelve months. His presence was intimidating. Yuuri had seen him as a threat years ago, but soon discovered that he was as threatening as a common cold. There was a softness to Nishigori that not many knew about, and Yuuri felt privileged to have discovered it. Somewhere along the way, Yuuri discovered that he and Yuuko would make a nicer pair than he and she ever could. He convinced himself that it was a hopeless crush, just puppy love. Though sometimes, when she caught him off guard with that sweet smile and rib-tickling laughter, he could still feel his heart throb, just a little.

 

Yuuri shrugged and stared at the foreign tape instead of Nishigori, “It’s slow, I don’t feel like anything has really changed”

 

“You look fine as you are, you know”

 

Nishigori had his back turned now, also beginning to scan the stacks of fitness tapes. 

 

“I look okay”

 

“No, Yuuri, I mean it. You’re fine as you are,” Nishigori was suddenly serious, and it was suddenly uncomfortable and suddenly Yuuri wanted to leave. He had heard these words before, that he was at an average weight, just a little soft around the edges, and that was fine. He shouldn’t get too absorbed in his body image, because that wasn’t healthy. Some girls had a thing for chubby guys because it reminds them of snuggling with teddy bears, or something like that. Yuuri had heard it all before, and then some. But he didn’t want girls to like him just because he reminded them of a stuffed toy, not that any girls had approached him anyway. Was that too convoluted to grasp? Although they were meant to be encouraging, Nishigori’s words hurt in a way that was too complex for Yuuri himself to understand.

 

“I just want to be ready for high school, that’s all,” he countered, even though that wasn’t it all. Nishigori almost said something, but swallowed his words quickly. They resumed their browsing in a heavy silence after that. Their conversations always seemed to end like this. 

 

Yuuri eventually figured that it wouldn’t do him any good to stay in the shop longer than he already had and decided to leave. He would rent out this interesting foreign tape, say goodbye to Yuuko, and escape this awkward atmosphere. As he turned to approach the counter, Nishigori called out to him one last time.

 

“Make sure that you eat something good for dinner tonight!”

 

Yuuri turned around only halfway, just enough so that his discomfort was apparent, “I’m not starving myself or anything like that”

 

Nishigori ignored him and carried on, “Make sure that you eat something good for dinner tonight,” he repeated with a forced smile, “if your mom hasn’t started on cooking yet, ask her to make something you like”

 

Yuuri stood there for a moment, trying to comprehend what he was being told. To contact his mother, ask her to make katsudon if she could, and have a delicious dinner. To indulge.

 

Yuuri swallowed, “Okay, I will”

 

His response could have or could not have been satisfactory for Nishigori, but either way, he went back to looking at the tapes and made no further comment on the matter.

 

“Bye Yuuri, get home safe!”

 

“Thanks, I will”

 

✩✩✩

 

Yuuri had barely finished his first serving of oden before his mother was already picking up more boiled eggs and fish cakes with her chopsticks and plopping them into his bowl. He turned his head to tell her that he wasn’t hungry enough to finish a second serving, which in itself was a lie, but Hiroko pressed a loving kiss to his cheek before any words could push past his lips. She wore her usual smile which glowed like gold and silently urged him  _ eat Yuuri, you’re still growing _ . Hiroko hated having leftovers, usually because they ended up going bad in the refrigerator. Yuuri knew this, so he smiled back and stuffed the second egg into his cheeks.

 

“How were your classes today, Mari?” Toshiya was the first to speak up. The Katsuki’s usually enjoyed their dinners in a comfortable silence, something that Yuuri had always been grateful for. By the time dinner rolled around, they were all tired of hearing each other’s voices as they ran the onsen, which was especially busy during this time of year. However, there was also the fact that the absence of conversation meant that school days were rarely asked about. Hiroko and Toshiya were purposely kept in the dark about all of the teasing that took place almost constantly. But Yuuri knew that he was doing them each a favor. Something like this shouldn’t be on his parents’ minds, not something this bothersome. Not something this inconvenient. He could handle himself, and he didn’t mind being hurt alone.

 

Mari shrugged and lifted her glass of water to her mouth, “They were whatever”

 

“What about you, Yuuri?”

 

“School was good,” he lied with an easiness that nearly made him nauseous. Yuuko might have been well-practiced in pinpointing his lies, but his family hadn’t caught on quite yet. This was both a blessing and a curse.

 

“We were supposed to play soccer in P.E. today, but since it snowed last night, we just ended up having a free period inside of the gym. So I practiced my fouettes instead,” he said in between sips of broth, “I hate soccer, so I was really happy!”

 

Mari snorted at her brother and served herself more radish, “You’re such a princess, I swear”

 

“In that case, I can give you some tips on how to be more of a proper lady. Maybe then, boys will start to like you,” Yuuri teased right back. 

 

Mari wanted to be mad at him, probably reach over and smack him behind his head or childishly nab his glasses and refuse to give them back, but all she could do was laugh. Even Toshiya was trying his best to conceal the tiny smile that was tugging at the corners of his mouth.

 

“Yuuri, be nice to your sister! She’s the only one you have!” Hiroko scolded lightly and nudged at her son’s shoulder, causing Yuuri to grin bashfully and give a half-hearted apology.

 

Dinner was over quickly, which meant both of the Katsuki siblings found themselves tag-teaming in the kitchen to clean the family’s bowls, cups, and chopsticks as soon as possible. Mari had to finish the homework that she had procrastinated on, and Yuuri wanted to wash his face and brush his teeth before retiring for the night. Luckily, dishwashing was a routine that the two of them had perfected over the years, and they had finished in a matter of a few short minutes.

 

“Hey, Yuuri,” Mari started, drying off the last bowl with a clean rag, “you’d better keep your word and teach me how to be more of a princess like you. I could use the practice”

 

The corners of Yuuri’s eyes wrinkled when he smiled at his sister, “For boys?”

 

“Shut up, you know it’s not for them”

 

“Haha, I know! It’s just a lot of fun to make fun of you,” he said jokingly, then turned off the water faucet and went to dry his hands, “when are you going to tell mom and dad?”

 

Mari moaned from across the room and shuffled towards him, draping her arms around his shoulders and resting her chin on the top of his head, even though she knew that Yuuri hated it, “I don’t know”

 

“I don’t think they’ll be mad”

 

“I just don’t want to disappoint them,” she sighed, “It’s scary to tell anyone that you’re gay, even if it’s your parents. I actually think that it’s harder to tell them”

 

“Is it because they’re your family?” Yuuri asked curiously, wiggling from underneath his sister’s weight, “because you said it was easy to tell me, and I’m your brother”

 

“You’re different. Since you’re my little brother, if you had something awful to say I could just slam dunk you into a dumpster or something,” she grinned sarcastically, “but no, I honestly don’t know why it was easier to tell you. I guess I trust you more than anyone else”

 

“Could have fooled me”

 

“Shut all the way up, you know I love you a lot”

 

Yuuri laughed and gave Mari the warmest hug he could manage, “I know”

 

“What? You’re not gonna say that you love me too?” Mari complained but still hugged back with just as much vigor, “You’re going to break your poor sister’s heart!”

 

“Nah, I don’t feel like it,” Yuuri teased again and tried to pull away, but Mari’s hands pulled him close again, “hey!”

 

“You’re going to love me whether you want to or not!”

 

Yuuri struggled as his sister forced her kisses all over his face, making him shout and gush with laughter, “Stop! Stop it! That’s so gross!”

 

“Say you love your big sister, Yuuri!”

 

“Never!”

 

“Say it now!”

 

“No!”

 

“Mari! Yuuri! You’ll disturb the guests!” Hiroko shouted from somewhere upstairs, making the two of them quiet down immediately. Yuuri sent his sister a glare and Mari smiled back in response, unable to hide her giggles as he dramatically wiped her kisses from his cheeks.

 

“I’m going upstairs to brush my teeth”

 

“But I’m not finished drowning you with my love!”

 

“Knock it off, nee-chan!”

 

Mari chased Yuuri all the way up the stairs until the bathroom door was slammed in her face and immediately locked. She retreated into her bedroom with an amused grin as Hiroko fumed and begged them not to make any more noise for the night, or else.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfic, so I hope you all can stick around for the ride! :^)  
> This chapter was a little short, but upcoming chapters should be a little longer 
> 
> Any kind of feedback would be nice!


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